per Goff... "On the under-23 team front, Freddy Adu, Sal Zizzo, Jonathan Spector and Charlie Davies have left Nashville to return to Europe and will not play in Sunday's meaningless final against Honduras. Don't be surprised if most, if not all of them, are named to the national team roster for Wednesday's friendly at Poland. That list will be unveiled Sunday or Monday morning."
Donovan played the first half of the Galaxy scrimmage this morning at Galaxy Fan Fest, then missed the rest of the event. According to Mark Rogondino (who hosted the event) Donovan was headed to the airport for a flight to Poland. So I guess you can put him down as one of the few MLSers to make the trip...
Thank god. Honestly, we're going to need him. I'm beginning to get a bit nervous about this match given that it seems to be a bit of an after-thought. Even though we already beat the Poles on European soil in 2006, I'm not sure how great I'm going to feel about having to cede bragging rights to Polak_Metro around here if we lose.
Suprisingly the rivalry between Poland and US is pretty even, Team USA 6 wins, 2 draws, 7 losses Poland 7 wins, 2 draws, 6 losses http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/headtohead/team1=pol/team2=usa/index.html In terms of friendlies we stick to US since they are the most likely side from the Americas that are more likely to play us.
Wasn't Hahnemann in the pic in the blog too?? EDIT ------ Yes he is, and man does he have some massive calves.
And some massive saves this month vs Arsenal, Man U, and chelsea as well! I know some people have been placing Guzan ahead of Hahnemann, but their the ones looking foolish if they have yet to watch Hahnemann dominate Arsenal and Chelsea while in net. Guzan has to do that first then hes the #2.
God Bless Steven Goff The complete list: GKs: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC), Tim Howard (Everton FC). Ds: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Cory Gibbs (Charlton Athletic), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United). MFs: Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County). Fs: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich).
My first chance to see him for real! (Not counting the Morocco game since I couldn't consider myself a true fan back then)
Actually this might be the most experienced squad(cap-wise) that Bradley has selected as nat coach, I bet if you added up the caps this squad has the highest total since the World Cup team.
So really, this is pretty close to our A-squad. The only potential A-Teamers I see missing are: -Maurice Edu -Jonathan Bornstein -Josmer Altidore -Freddy Adu -DaMarcus Beasley (inj.) -Bobbinho Convinho Most of these guys have replacements who are just about as good in the line-up, with the exception of Beasley at LM. I expect to see a starting line-up of something like this: -----------Johnson--------Dempsey----------- Lewis-------Bradley-------Clark--------Donovan Pearce-----Bocanegra-----Onyewu-----Cherundolo ---------------------HOWARD-------------------- In my fantasy world, I'd like to see a line-up like this, not because I think this line-up is better, but because I'd like to see Ching, Gibbs & DeMerit all get to play: -----------Ching--------Donovan----------- Lewis-------Bradley-------Clark--------Dempsey Gibbs-----Bocanegra-----DeMerit-----Cherundolo ---------------------HOWARD-------------------- I doubt this will happen though, because Gibbs and DeMerit are coming off of injury layoffs, Bob Bradley prefers Donovan on the right wing and Dempsey up top, and there's no way Bob abandons his preferred center back pairing of Boca/Onyewu, even for experimental purposes. I should also note that I'm willing to give Bradley & Clark another try in central midfield, hoping that perhaps they will gel better this time around since they will have already played with each other. If it doesn't seem to be working by halftime, pull one off for Benny Feilhaber.
Between the two, I'd rather have seen Nguyen (assuming he's healthy) than Lewis. If Nguyen was good enough to see minutes in the Copa America, surely he's good enough to see minutes in a friendly against Poland. I know, you know what you're going to get w/ Lewis. Nguyen would be a gamble. So, w/ Beaz out & Convey ailing, the race for the left mid spot for the early WCQ's is pretty interesting. To me it looks like, in BB's mind, it's Lewis' spot to lose. Maybe Davis could sneak in there? Holden? I don't see Bob picking Freddie for the LM in the empty bucket. Maybe Bornstein w/ Pearce behind him? Anyway, if it were me, I'd leave off Gibbs and have both Nguyen & Lewis on the roster. That way, you can get a look at Nguyen. Is Nguyen better than the MLS contingent?
Yeah, and that's a little disconcerting. I'd maybe even put Donovan on the left, Dempsey on the right and start Ching/Johnson or Ching/Altidore.
Looks like the Feilhaber "incident" at the U23 camp wasn't that big a deal. If it was he wouldn't have been picked to go to the Poland game. My guess is that with the shear numbers of central mids on the U23 team, BB and Novak decided to leave BF off the U23 team and just call him in for the Poland game. It makes the club happier and if he plays and does well against Poland, Bf may get better offers than if he played well against U23 players. From all reports, he will be looking for a new team this summer. One where he will be getting playing time. I think that is the same reasoning behind Michael Bradley not being on the U23 team also. Making deals with teams is common place and keeps the players from beign put in bad positions to choose between country and club and pissing one of the two off.
I must disagree with these statements. 1) why would you fly a player from Europe into camps for 1-2 weeks if you knew you had absolutely no need for him? i still suspect something went on at camp that still locked behind closed doors. he could be having an attitude problem; he could be terribly out of shape; he did not do better than the other midfielders (edu, mccarty, etc.). 2) michael bradley being left out of the u-23 tourney is far more different than bf. mb is the leading scorer at this club, he is their core player, and there's no way they're letting him go while fighting for league title and a spot in european competitions. he's being kept by the club to score goals and win games, while bf WAS NOT good enough to make the U23 list and went back to rotting on the Derby bench.
Seriously? Feilhaber? I think I'm going to move to England and get in on a pick up game...I should be a lock for the national team.